McCain to Obama: Work, don't shop

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) blasted President Barack Obama Thursday for failing to lead in the payroll tax cut extension negotiations, saying the president should take charge “rather than go shopping for his dog.”

“I think that the president should play a much more of a lead role rather than go shopping for his dog. Maybe call these people over to the White House as the previous four presidents that I’ve served under would have done and see if we can’t hammer something else,” McCain said in an appearance on Fox News when asked whether he believes his colleagues in the Senate will return to Washington to work out a deal with members of the House.

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McCain also made similar remarks on CNN: “In times like these, in past four presidents I have served under, they have exerted a lot more leadership than going shopping.”

The former presidential candidate also warned, “By the way, I also feel that in the upcoming election, which is a — less than a year from now, no incumbent is safe, nor should they be.”

The jabbing comments come a day after Obama and the family dog, Bo, went on a Christmas shopping trip on Wednesday. Obama and the dog made stops at PetSmart and Best Buy.

Earlier on Thursday, McCain also alleged that the House’s decision to effectively reject the Senate’s two-month payroll tax cut extension was a mistake that “no doubt hurts the Republican Party.”

“This is really tragic for the American people, and I would say that next November, no incumbent is safe, nor should they be,” said McCain on CBS’s “The Early Show.” “No doubt this hurts the Republican Party, and that bothers me a great deal, as a Republican.”

The former GOP presidential nominee said it was a mistake for House Republicans to have voted down the bipartisan Senate bill that would have extended the payroll tax holiday for two more months, calling those who would be affected by the failure “innocent bystanders.”

“We have a dysfunctional government and this infighting has 160 million Americans caught as innocent bystanders, caught in the cross fire here, who stand to lose as much as a thousand dollars a year, which to them is a great deal of money,” he said. “Politics is overriding the good of the American people.”

McCain said the House should just pass the same bill that the Senate did, only amending it to make it last a year.

“I don’t think there is any doubt that the president and the Democrats have a political advantage here. I hope we can right the ship, I hope we can get it done quickly,” he said.

The Arizona Republican also slammed President Obama for not showing more leadership on the issue.

“I served under four other presidents — if this was going on, he would be calling the leaders over to sit down in the Oval Office and say ‘let’s hammer this out,’ instead of going shopping,” McCain said.

On Tuesday, the House effectively rejected the Senate bill, 229-193, despite the bill’s overwhelming bipartisan 89-10 vote in the upper chamber.